systems. Tribunals are quasi-courts, and they fulfill a role that is similar to that of a
court. However, they are highly specialized; there are Tribunals for social security
and for environmental matters and also for matters relating to milk quotas only!
Moreover, disputes are resolved not only by “real” judges, i.e. persons with a legal
education, but also by lay people with a specific background in the subject matter of
the dispute.
In a way, one could say that what happens before a Tribunal is a hybrid between court
proceedings and a preliminary objection before the administration.
The advantage of this system is the concentration of expertise in the Tribunal
and the fact that there are very few procedural hurdles for applicants. It is quite easy
to access Tribunals, and this ensures that individuals always have a forum that will
hear their complaints. At the same time, however, because of their structure, doubts
can be cast as to the impartiality of the members of the Tribunals. Many Tribunals,
like the Irish Milk Quota Appeal Tribunal, are part of the respective ministry (which
in this case is the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine).
9.5.3 What Is an “Administrative Dispute”? The Public/Private
Divide
If a legal system decides, as the vast majority does, to assign “administrative
disputes” to either a specialized court or to a specialized branch within ordinary
courts, it is faced with the question of what an “administrative dispute” actually is.
This question may seem quite straightforward for certain cases. Few would
doubt, for example, that a claim against an order for the demolition of a building
is an administrative dispute, as this measure represents the core of what adminis-
trative law is about: the possibility for the public administration to limit the legal
sphere and the rights or interests of an individual in the name of the public interest.
The delineation of what an administrative dispute is, however, becomes more
complicated when, for example, an administrative body has concluded a contract
with a building company for the construction of a bridge. Does the matter then fall
within the competence of the administrative courts because the public administra-
tion is one of the parties to this contract? Or should this matter be reviewed by the
ordinary courts since, after all, the subject matter of the controversy is a contract
between two entities and hence, in principle, a private law juridical act?
Agent Legal systems have adopted different solutions to this issue. Some legal
systems, such as the British one, focus on the agent: here, every dispute will be
qualified as an “administrative dispute” if the challenged action has been carried out
by a body “exercising public law functions,” regardless of whether the action
constitutes a private law juridical act or a public law juridical act.
So, if the London police department buys new police cars, this can lead to an administrative
dispute.204 C. Backes and M. Eliantonio